0:00:00.990,0:00:02.713
Hi, everyone.

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Hopefully, you know that you [br]have your first exam coming up,

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and I thought I would address here, [br]in a short video, how you might study.

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Because one of the most common (if not the[br]most common) non-content-related questions

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that I get from my online students

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is how to approach studying [br]for course exams.

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So let's just take a step back here[br]and talk about exams.

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So in terms of the grading for the course,[br]one thing you might want to know

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is that there's kind of a blend [br]of both what you might call

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"low-stakes" work[br]and "high-stakes" work.

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So by" low-stakes," I mean there are[br]some graded elements of the course,

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where basically, if you [br]do a reasonably good job,

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you get full credit.

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so the reflection assignments [br]and the application assignments

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are examples of that.

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But there also are high-stakes elements,

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and the most notable example are the exams.

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The exams are the tough part, you might say,

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and exams are worth over[br]half the points for the course.

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They take -- they tend to separate out [br]the students who really know their stuff,

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who really understand the details[br]of what we're covering in this course

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from those who kind of know the gist of it

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or really haven't worked very hard.

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So definitely, the exams require work.

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And so, to help you for the first exam, [br]I've prepared a handout that goes through

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kind of what to focus on and gives [br]a couple of example questions.

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I'll also give you a handout [br]for the final exam

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because there's so much to kind of[br]think about for the final exam;

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and that will include the essays[br]that you will submit.

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But I'll be honest.

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So, when I went to college,[br]I never got a study guide,

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and I know a lot of you[br]want a study guide,

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but I don't know if that's [br]typically what's done in college.

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I think it's expected that college students

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learn the skill of determining

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what is most important to focus on [br]in their studying and then to study well.

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So that's kind of what I [br]want to talk about here.

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How to create your own study guide,[br]how to figure out what to focus on,

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and how to study to do as best[br]as possible on the exams.

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Honestly, if you wanted [br]a study guide for this course,

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I have a colleague that prepares a study guide [br]for his version of introduction of psychology,

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and I think it's like 30 or 40 pages long;[br]it's ridiculous.

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And the reason is, because [br]this is a 4-credit survey course,

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and I don't know if you're familiar [br]with that, but this is not a 3-credit course.

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It's a 4-credit course, meaning that if [br]you took the course on campus,

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you'd be meeting 4 hours a week[br]during a normal Fall or Spring semester.

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And about 8 credits per week

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if you took the 7-week version of the summer course.

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And so, that's where the designation[br]of a 4-credit course comes from.

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It's more work, it's more intensive,[br]it requires more time.

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And then the old adage is,

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you spend that amount of time [br]in class and then you double that

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for the amount of time [br]you spend outside of class

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to kind of do all the work necessary[br]to do well in the course,

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so you can do the math.

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There's a lot of time that's potentially[br]necessary to get through everything

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and prepare well for these exams.

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And I think a lot of students [br]don't kind of appreciate that

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when they take the course online.

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If you were taking the course face-to-face,

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you would be having that much[br]time every week in class

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and then you have all that additional time[br]outside of class to do homework .

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And online, it's the same kind of expectation[br]that you would spend about that amount of time.

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So as a survey course, the goal[br]of this course, in some ways,

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is to introduce you to the [br]entire field of psychology,

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which is a tall task,[br]kind of an absurd task.

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But that's one of the goals,

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is to introduce you to [br]a lot of different things,

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to give you a breadth of exposure.

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Now that makes studying really tricky

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because you're exposed [br]to so much in this course.

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Now, I'll be honest...

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Of all the people who teach[br]this course at Normandale,

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I emphasize breadth the least.

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I assign the least reading.

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I assign you a textbook that's actually [br]called an "Essentials Textbook,"

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which means it's a shortened [br]version of the full text.

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And I don't assign about[br]a third of the Essentials text.

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I have some colleagues who actually[br]think I'm not doing a good job

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by not having you read more,

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by not exposing you to more breadth,

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but that's something I've chosen to do

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because I try to emphasize [br]depth a little bit more.

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But still, having said that, [br]there's a lot of information

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there's a lot of reading [br]in this course, and so,

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one of the great challenges is figuring[br]out what to prioritize in your studying

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So part of the difficulty of the exams[br]is that this is a survey course,

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and in some ways, you are[br]randomly tested on concepts

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from everything that you[br]are being exposed to,

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and that's to kind of see how much [br]of that breadth you're learning.

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So one of the (I think) [br]recommendations

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that follows that is, you have to[br]spend enough time in this course

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to really expose yourself[br]to all of that material.

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You need to read everything[br]in depth, in detail,

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and you need to do all the other elements [br]of the course that I'll mention in a minute.

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And then you have to[br]learn from that enough

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to be able to recognize it [br]in multiple-choice questions.

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So when you're looking [br]through your textbook,

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there's a skill involved in really

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gaining as much knowledge [br]as possible from a textbook,

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and when you go through this textbook, [br]there are some hopefully helpful features.

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So as you go through, [br]note the bolded terms,

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note the major ideas, pay attention [br]to the figures and the tables

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because they kind of are highlighting[br]what's most important.

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And then there are "test yourself" [br]kinds of questions

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sprinkled throughout the chapters.

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And there are also questions[br]at the end of the chapters,

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and I would absolutely do those.

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The answers are provided and[br]they provide a way to kind of

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check yourself to see whether [br]you're learning from the text

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as much as you might be[br]expected to learn from the text.

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Now, I will say, those questions in the [br]text are more detailed, more specific,

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more kind of nitpicky than [br]my questions on my exams,

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but they're still helpful to kind of[br]practice and to kind of check and see

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whether you're getting from [br]the text what you need.

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Now, when you're going [br]through the text, especially,

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I would absolutely take your time,[br]read it deeply, read it in detail.

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I would be in an environment [br]where you're not distracted.

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I would remove distractions such as[br]your phone and things like that.

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Put it away, put it in a different room,

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and really focus on what you're[br]reading and take notes.

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You can take notes in outline form.

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A lot of students really benefit [br]by taking visual notes.

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They take out like a big piece of paper

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and they produce diagrams where they[br]highlight the most important bolded terms

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and the interconnections among those bolded[br]terms from, like for example, every chapter.

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But I would do something like that[br]because you don't, in the end --

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For example, before an exam,

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you don't want to have to go [br]back through and reread it all.

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That's a waste of your time[br](if you had read it once)

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to go back and reread it again.

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You want to read it once[br]and take notes so that then,

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before the exam, you can [br]use those notes to study

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rather than going back [br]through everything.

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You might have to go back through

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and cover some details that maybe [br]you're a little bit more foggy on,

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but you want to use your notes.

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Now, like I said, I tend to emphasize [br]depth over breadth, and so as a result,

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I do assign -- maybe not,[br]maybe it doesn't feel that way --

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but I do assign less [br]reading from your text

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and I supplement that in a[br]variety of ways with other articles.

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I write my own reflections on [br]what material means to me.

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There are videos and [br]podcasts that you're assigned,

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and then I produce material.

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In the Announcements section,

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I write about material, I produce my [br]own videos about material sometimes.

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I produce my own podcasts[br]about material sometimes.

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And so, that's an attempt

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to kind of emphasize what is[br]most important in the course.

0:10:05.156,0:10:09.200
So in this supplemental[br]non-textbook material,

0:10:09.200,0:10:15.060
pay attention to where[br]everything is kind of focused,

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and, in particular,

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anything I produce is my [br]attempt, as the instructor,

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to show you what is most important,

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what will be emphasized on the exams.

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Now one of the great mistakes[br]that students make --

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and this is kind of the traditional way[br]of studying -- is [that] they will study

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mostly what's in the textbook and[br]they'll go back and they'll reread

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the textbook over and over [br]as a way to prepare for the exam.

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Actually, in the material that you're[br]learning about from memory this term,

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one of the points that's made

0:10:52.936,0:10:57.083
is that that's a really ineffective[br]and inefficient way of studying.

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And so, just in terms of memory,[br]it doesn't work too well to do that.

0:11:03.800,0:11:06.517
So what I want you to do is,

0:11:06.517,0:11:12.960
I want you to focus most of your[br]studying on what I produce.

0:11:12.960,0:11:15.217
So any time I write a reflection,

0:11:15.217,0:11:18.794
any time I write in the [br]Announcements about content,

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any time I make a video or a podcast,

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any time I produce practice handouts

0:11:25.590,0:11:29.809
where there are problems that I'm [br]giving you with the answers provided...

0:11:29.809,0:11:31.599
Because I'm the instructor,

0:11:31.599,0:11:37.438
I'm trying to show you through that [br]what will be emphasized on the exams,

0:11:37.438,0:11:44.940
and I would start studying by[br]mastering that, anything I produce.

0:11:44.940,0:11:51.140
And that's the way to get, I think,[br]the most difficult material studied,

0:11:51.140,0:11:54.270
and it's the way to kind of be[br]most effective and efficient.

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Now, like I said, it is a survey course,[br]so those are not the only questions.

0:11:59.834,0:12:02.382
The questions are not only[br]based on what I produced,

0:12:02.382,0:12:04.608
but I'm trying to help you focus on

0:12:04.608,0:12:06.603
what's most important[br]in what I produce,

0:12:06.603,0:12:10.774
and then you have to kind of [br]get a sense for everything else

0:12:10.774,0:12:15.580
through the major themes,[br]through the bolded terms,

0:12:15.580,0:12:19.060
things like that, of your textbook, alright?

0:12:19.060,0:12:22.038
So the "test yourself" concept

0:12:22.038,0:12:25.725
that you're learning about in this course[br]in relation to memory in particular,

0:12:25.725,0:12:27.268
I think is really helpful.

0:12:27.268,0:12:33.058
Rather than trying to go back and [br]repeat material and reread material --

0:12:33.058,0:12:34.388
which, generally speaking,

0:12:34.388,0:12:37.496
research has shown is not a [br]very effective study strategy --

0:12:37.496,0:12:39.285
see if you can test yourself

0:12:39.285,0:12:44.550
and in particular, since I'm saying[br]most questions come from or

0:12:44.550,0:12:50.840
are kind of related to or[br]mentioned in things I produce,

0:12:50.840,0:12:55.290
look at that very carefully and see [br]if you can come up with questions

0:12:55.290,0:12:59.057
that check whether you [br]understand that material.

0:12:59.057,0:13:02.010
So like, when I was a student, [br]for instance, what I did was,

0:13:02.010,0:13:04.746
I would take my notebook[br]and I would go through,

0:13:04.746,0:13:09.190
and any time a term was mentioned, [br]I would cover the term up and

0:13:09.190,0:13:12.110
I would ask myself what the[br]meaning of the term was.

0:13:12.110,0:13:14.515
And so, the first time I'd go[br]through the material,

0:13:14.515,0:13:17.736
I wouldn't really know it very well,

0:13:17.736,0:13:20.912
but then I would look [br]at it until I kind of got it,

0:13:20.912,0:13:24.385
and go through all of the[br]material in that fashion.

0:13:24.385,0:13:25.735
And what I'm saying here is,

0:13:25.735,0:13:29.952
you could do that with [br]anything that I emphasize

0:13:29.952,0:13:31.660
and the bolded terms of Meyers.

0:13:31.660,0:13:34.367
Go through all of that once

0:13:34.367,0:13:36.773
and check and see [br]whether you understand it,

0:13:36.773,0:13:40.165
come up with your own [br]examples during that time

0:13:40.165,0:13:45.286
or some examples that connect what [br]you're learning about to something else.

0:13:45.286,0:13:47.685
That'll help you to[br]really remember it better.

0:13:47.685,0:13:50.600
And then go through it [br]a second time like that.

0:13:50.600,0:13:53.289
Usually, when I did this,[br]it took me three times,

0:13:53.289,0:13:57.210
and by the end of the third time,[br]I kind of had it and I had it mastered

0:13:57.210,0:13:59.050
and then I would do well in the exams.

0:13:59.050,0:14:03.571
But if I did it once, you know,

0:14:03.571,0:14:05.857
I wouldn't do very well[br]because I didn't know it.

0:14:05.857,0:14:10.335
And so, when you get to the[br]multiple-choice questions on the exams,

0:14:10.335,0:14:15.465
they are an attempt to determine[br]who really has the material mastered

0:14:15.465,0:14:18.341
from those who just [br]kind of have the gist of it.

0:14:18.341,0:14:22.701
And so, you want to be someone[br]who has mastered the details,

0:14:22.701,0:14:26.485
and to do that, you have to [br]spend time with the details,

0:14:26.485,0:14:30.222
trying to learn the definitions,[br]trying to understand the applications.

0:14:30.222,0:14:32.302
Now, because this is an online course,

0:14:32.302,0:14:38.500
of course, you have the potential to have[br]material in front of you during the exams.

0:14:38.500,0:14:40.471
You have a limited amount of time

0:14:40.471,0:14:43.978
and the reason is because I don't[br]want you to look up everything;

0:14:43.978,0:14:46.160
I want this to be a test.

0:14:46.160,0:14:49.955
I want to see what you know,

0:14:49.955,0:14:52.529
and I want you to prepare for the exam

0:14:52.529,0:14:55.510
just like you would prepare for [br]an exam that was face to face,

0:14:55.510,0:14:58.150
where you had no access to any material.

0:14:58.150,0:15:02.057
You need to prepare, but the way I would [br]prepare would be a little bit different.

0:15:02.057,0:15:05.390
I would have my notes, [br]I would have things organized

0:15:05.390,0:15:08.700
I'd have my textbook, [br]I would know where things are,

0:15:08.700,0:15:12.260
and then, when you did the exam,

0:15:12.260,0:15:16.747
go through and answer the questions[br]that you know pretty well,

0:15:16.747,0:15:19.909
and click the answer and save it.

0:15:19.909,0:15:22.611
And then go back to the [br]questions you're less certain of

0:15:22.611,0:15:24.419
and be aware of the time,

0:15:24.419,0:15:25.980
and spend that time wisely

0:15:25.980,0:15:29.241
to look up as much as you can[br]to answer those questions.

0:15:29.241,0:15:32.947
Now, the multiple-choice questions[br]for the exams in this course

0:15:32.947,0:15:36.365
are not necessarily straightforward[br]definition questions.

0:15:36.365,0:15:38.002
You have to be able to understand

0:15:38.002,0:15:40.929
and apply and think critically [br]about that material.

0:15:40.929,0:15:46.850
That's why you have to prepare for[br]the exams to be able to do that, so --

0:15:46.850,0:15:50.177
But still, it's helpful to have[br]that material in front of you;

0:15:50.177,0:15:53.353
and then, when you get to [br]those more difficult questions,

0:15:53.353,0:15:57.611
take some time and [br]try to think it through.

0:15:57.611,0:16:01.977
One of the common mistakes students[br]often make in psychology courses is,

0:16:01.977,0:16:06.928
they will refer back to what[br]they kind of have always known

0:16:06.928,0:16:10.157
or what seems common sense,[br]what seems right,

0:16:10.157,0:16:14.880
and because psychology[br]tends to oftentimes show

0:16:14.880,0:16:18.576
that what seems true isn't true,

0:16:18.576,0:16:21.426
I would kind of encourage you

0:16:21.426,0:16:26.799
to pause and not always [br]necessarily go with that hunch.

0:16:26.799,0:16:31.100
Think about what you're learning [br]about in the research in this course

0:16:31.100,0:16:33.633
and go with that answer.

0:16:33.633,0:16:36.800
And now you have to know[br]the research well enough to do that.

0:16:36.800,0:16:40.740
A good sign is, if you're going through[br]the multiple-choice questions and

0:16:40.740,0:16:45.263
you think to yourself: "Well, I see[br]the first one and I see the second one

0:16:45.263,0:16:49.453
and I can see how someone would pick one[br]of those two if they hadn't really studied,

0:16:49.453,0:16:53.766
but I know based upon my reading [br]and what we've been discussing

0:16:53.766,0:16:55.428
that it's actually the third one."

0:16:55.428,0:17:00.242
If you can understand where students[br]might go astray during the exam

0:17:00.242,0:17:03.368
and why they're wrong, [br]then you know you're prepared.

0:17:03.368,0:17:05.900
So you want to get yourself to that point

0:17:05.900,0:17:11.030
and it does take time,[br]it does take detailed attention.

0:17:11.030,0:17:17.960
So I am here to help you and I've given[br]you materials that I hope will help you.

0:17:17.960,0:17:22.320
The practice materials, the things that[br]I have produced, are all meant to help you.

0:17:22.320,0:17:26.802
Don't skip over my videos and podcasts[br]and writings because, like I said,

0:17:26.802,0:17:31.880
that's where I'm really trying to point[br]you in the direction of what's emphasized.

0:17:31.880,0:17:34.664
But if you need help, please contact me.

0:17:34.664,0:17:37.756
My contact information is [br]at the top right of D2L

0:17:37.756,0:17:41.280
and we can talk it through [br]and I can help you study

0:17:41.280,0:17:43.685
and I can maybe give you [br]some suggestions.

0:17:43.685,0:17:48.920
So good luck, and I hope it goes well.

0:17:48.920,0:17:54.010
And never hesitate to reach out if [br]I can do anything for you to help. END